Settling In: The Dragoslav Cycle: Part 2 of 3
by NebulaBelt
Summary: (SatAM/Archie) Misha returns to Knothole to settle in and become a Freedom Fighter, leaving Sally with the task of breaking in the newbie. But is the he ready for Knothole. And is Knothole ready for the Russian reprobate?...Please read and review!
1. Chapter One

Sonic the Hedgehog and associated characters are (c) to Sega, Archie, DiC, etc. They are not mine and never were. Original characters and plot are (c) to me. Thank you.  
  
* * *  
  
Princess Sally spent the entire morning in one of her infamous planning sessions. Roughly translated, "planning session" meant that she would lock herself up in her hut for hours and find newer and better ways to give herself an ulcer over things she couldn't possibly control or counter. Everyone knew better than to intrude when she was in that state.  
  
"Sally?" Well, ALMOST everyone.  
  
"Hello Misha." Sally sighed as she flipped Nicole off. "Just come from the doctor?"  
  
"Da." He affirmed morosely. "Not much fun, though. 'Give us some more blood, Mikhail.' 'The needle won't hurt, Mikhail.' 'Take off your shirt, Mikhail.' 'Roll over, Mikhail.' 'Breathe deeply, Mikhail.' 'Blood sample, Mikhail.' 'Marrow sample, Mikhail.' 'Skin sample, Mikhail.' If...if I live long enough, I'm going to run out of samples."  
  
"You'll live." Sally countered.  
  
"Oh, yes, I'll live. But I won't enjoy it."  
  
After bringing Misha back to Knothole, the first thing Sally did was make sure he went to see a doctor. After a series of intelligence tests and medical examinations, the doctor placed him on a strict regimen of medications and exercises designed to improve his health. Sally couldn't help but notice that he seemed a lot more energetic and robust than he did when they first met, and less gaunt. "You're looking well."  
  
"And you're a bad liar. Now that the pleasantries have been dispensed with, what are you doing?" Sally had to restrain herself from sighing again.  
  
"He has no sense of decorum." She thought ruefully. Aloud, she said "You know, it probably wouldn't kill you if you learned how to ask questions more politely. 'Sally, a moment of your time? How are you? May I ask what you're doing?' as opposed to just barging in and saying 'What are you doing?' Is any of this penetrating?"  
  
Misha drew himself up into a formal, dignified stance that would've put Antoine to shame. "Of course Your Highness, in fact I can phrase all such requests and inquiries in a such a way as to waste a maximum amount of your time as possible." Sally rolled her eyes.  
  
"You're incorrigible."  
  
"I bet you say the same thing to Sonic all the time."  
  
"I do."  
  
"I also bet that he doesn't know what 'incorrigible' means."  
  
"You're two for two." Sally stretched her arms. "Getting back to the point-"  
  
"Whatever THAT was." Misha snickered.  
  
"-I'm reviewing past missions." Sally said, ignoring Misha's remark.  
  
"Oh?" Misha asked curiously.  
  
"Yes, I'm looking over past successful and unsuccessful missions. Trying to determine what went wrong and how we can improve ourselves. Besides when I do something stupid, I like to catalog the full extent of my stupidity for future reference."  
  
"How very Russian of you." Misha quipped.  
  
"Glad you approve. What is it that YOU want?"  
  
"Now who's being blunt?" Misha asked rhetorically. "I thought you might need some company, or better yet, a break."  
  
"Not now, Misha. I have strategies to think, raids to plan-"  
  
"-and a responsibility not to overdo it." He pointed out.  
  
"I am NOT over-" Sally's growling stomach interrupted her. Misha imperceptibly raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I don't suppose you've ever heard of a thing we have in the morning? It's called breakfast. You should try it sometime."  
  
"I'm busy." Sally repeated. "Go bug Sonic."  
  
"Too easy." He commented as he looked around Sally's hut. "You play chess?" He said, spying a chess set on a table.  
  
"Yessss." Sally said, drawing out her answer. "Rosie gave me that set."  
  
"How about this, then. Let's have a match. If I win, you take an hour off and join me for lunch."  
  
"And if I win, will you let me finish my work uninterrupted?" Sally demanded, ready to agree to anything.  
  
"If that's what you want. Either way, you're going get a mental workout."  
  
"Deal." Sally couldn't help but grin to herself. This was going to be good.  
  
* * * 


	2. Chapter Two

* * *  
  
"I can't believe you won." Sally moaned again as she walked with Misha to Knothole's kitchen.  
  
"I'm Russian." He said by way of explanation. "What's for lunch?"  
  
"Crow." Sally said, not missing a beat. "Come on." When they sat down for lunch Sally looked on in surprise as Misha consumed everything that touched his plate. "Someone could lose a hand in there." She observed.  
  
"Now Princess, a growing boy needs his nourishment." Rosie said kindly as she deposited another plate in front of them.  
  
"I hardly think he has to grow anymore." Sally pointed out, referring to his already taller-than average height. "Not unless he intends he bang his head on every doorway in Knothole."  
  
"That only happened twice." Misha countered in between bites. Sally shook her head in self-pity.  
  
"Why is it that only guys can pack food in like that and never gain any weight?" She asked.  
  
"Irony." Misha answered laconically. He groaned suddenly as he noticed something on his plate. "Not another one. I hate these things!"  
  
"You don't like chilidogs?" Sally asked with some surprise. Misha shuddered as he pushed the plate away, trying to maximize the distance between them.  
  
"Vile, revolting things. No one with any taste could stand them." Sally looked at him as if noticing him for the first time.  
  
"You know, you're smarter than you look." She said as she took a drink of water.  
  
"It would be hard not to be." He said in a self-depreciating manner. Sally sputtered and nearly spat out her water. When she finally managed to swallow, she had to visibly restrain herself from laughing.  
  
"How did you like Antoine's tour of Knothole?" She asked, trying to switch topics.  
  
"Wonderful. I've never slept better."  
  
"Oh brother.Do you at least like your hut?"  
  
"It's great! Soft bed with a real mattress, a blanket that isn't a bunch of holes strung together, hot and cold running water, hot showers, and more personal space than I've ever had before. I must be the luckiest Slav alive."  
  
"Glad to see you're settling in fine." Sally smiled. "Mind if I take a look at your place?"  
  
"I guess you're not in such a rush to get back to work." He smiled back. Sally just shrugged.  
  
"I still have half an hour left."  
  
"Well in that case, come on." They stood up went outside. Misha escorted Sally to his hut and went inside. When Sally entered she couldn't help but comment on the neatness of the hut.  
  
"First time I've been in a boy's hut and could still see the floor."  
  
"Har har." Misha grumbled.  
  
"I'm serious, your place seems very well organized." She said as she looked around. Clean floor, made bed, organized bookshelf, all rather orderly. "I can't help but notice that you seem a bit...anxious as of late." Misha cleared his throat. "Well the fact of the matter is, that I wanted to ask you something."  
  
"Go on."  
  
"Sally, I know I will never go on an actual mission. Even with the good doctor's care, I'm still for all intents and purposes, physically unfit. If some miraculous cure was to free me of all my past ailments overnight, I still wouldn't have any physical skills to contribute to the Freedom Fighters." He paused a moment to let that sink in. "However, back at the Mir, I liked to think that I still managed to contribute SOMETHING, even if I couldn't pick up a weapon or a plough. Here, I've done nothing but eat and get prodded by doctors."  
  
"I see." Sally said, knowing where this was going. "You're saying you want to contribute more?"  
  
"I may not be able to plant bombs or dispatch SWATbots, but I can still do SOMETHING. I refuse to be treated like an invalid or a squatter. I want to pull my own weight around here, based on my own merits and actions. Not just be another mouth to feed." He paused and withdrew when he found that he was getting far too agitated. "My apologies."  
  
"None necessary." Sally assured him. "Well, if not actual missions, what did you have in mind?"  
  
"I'm not really sure. Since you don't have much need for a translator or an archeologist out here, I thought I could just do some odd jobs that would free the rest of you up to do more important things. I thought I could stand guard, assist Rosie in the kitchen, deliver messages, help Rotor organize his stuff, be there when Dulcy needs help landing, stuff like that."  
  
Sally looked at him with newfound respect. "You're quite serious about all this? The work isn't exactly glamorous and you probably won't get recognition for it..."  
  
"Recognition isn't what I'm after. I believe, and this is just me mind you, that all forms of work are of equal or near equal importance. That's one of my principles. If you don't like it....I have others. Anyway, Sonic's the hero, yes, but where would he be without you? Or Tails or Bunnie or Rotor or-?"  
  
"-You've made your point. Quiet well actually." Sally said with a smile. "Personally, I think you're selling yourself short. Far short. I saw the intelligence test results, an IQ of 129 is nothing to sneeze at. And as for your gifts with languages and history, I have a feeling we may yet make use of them. But for now, consider your request granted. Just don't overexert yourself. Otherwise the doctors will be out gunning for my hide."  
  
"Well, we can't have that." Misha grinned. "Thank you."  
  
"Not a problem." Sally said as she turned to the door. "Now that you've taken me away from my planning session for an hour and a HALF, I suppose I should be heading back. Oh, and Misha?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Thanks."  
  
* * * 


	3. Chapter Three

* * *  
  
No sooner had Sally closed the door behind her, than Misha began to question what had just happened. Though he had known her for a few short weeks, he somehow felt more at easy with Sally than he did with most people. Odder still, she was a scion of royalty, daughter of King Maximillian "the bastard" Acorn.  
  
Misha felt his fur stand on end at the thought of the deposed monarch of Mobius. One of the most frustrating aspects of living in Knothole, Misha thought, was having to reconcile his loathing for the monarchy in general and King Acorn in particular, with the fact that his daughter was in charge of Misha's new home.  
  
Misha sighed. He liked Sally, he really did. Respected her too, something he never imagined himself thinking about any member of the ruling elite. But still, he felt uneasy.  
  
"Tacitus said 'A good man can serve a bad ruler.' Does that mean, that a bad king can have a good daughter?" He hoped so, otherwise his life in Knothole would be.cut short.  
  
Misha sighed to himself, since there was no one else around to sigh to. "Liking and obeying Sally is not the same thing as obeying Princess Sally of the House of Acorn." Or at least, that's what he told himself. It was if Princess Sally, daughter of the king was some other creature than Sally, leader of the Freedom Fighters, as if they were divorced from one another. "If only that were true," Misha mused. It would make his life so much simpler.  
  
But if he were to find himself supporting the monarchy itself.He shuddered. "I would sooner fall upon my sword." He quoted, a human phrase.  
  
Misha sometimes amazed himself with his fascination.okay, obsession, with humanity. He grabbed one of the books off his shelf. Misha had taken several books from the old human library at the garrison and brought them to Knothole. This one in particular, was a favorite.  
  
When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! All the world wondered. Honor the charge they made, Honor the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred  
  
"These humans are extraordinary creatures." He said to himself in the emptiness of his hut. They had never failed to fascinate him, from the first time he stumbled onto the library he KNEW that he had discovered something special. Something no one else imagined existed. Barbarians indeed! Misha snorted at the common Mobian perception of the Overlanders. "More like descendants of a proud, ancient heritage." He said, before thinking about some of the more...ugly incidents in their history. Wars, slavery, hatred, genocide. He shuddered. Disgusting, but if anything, they only increased his interest for knowledge about humanity.  
  
"Are they a barbaric race with a few redeeming qualities or a enlightened race with a few leftover savage qualities? A sensitive people that act insensitive or an insensitive people trying to act sensitive. Are they driven by emotion or stoicism? Rational or irrational? Sane or insane?"  
  
"Coward." A part of his mind answered. "Be honest with yourself. You're really wondering about yourself when you ask those questions of humans, and you know it." His mind snickered. With a frustrated groan of annoyance he dragged himself away from his books and walked into his bathroom.  
  
Turning the water on, he splashed his face with icy cold water, trying to get his mind off his musings. "I think too much." He muttered to himself as he groped for a towel. "I need to lay off the in-depth thinking for a while." Misha squinted as fumbled around for his glasses.  
  
He looked out the window. It was already dark out. "Have I been talking to myself all afternoon?" Misha asked in despair. "Might as well go make myself useful." He grabbed another book of his shelf and hurried over to Tails' hut.  
  
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	4. Chapter Four

* * *  
  
To her great surprise, Sally found that her planning session went by much faster than she had first thought. Usually she would be up until the early hours of the morning. Instead, she was finished just after night fall.  
  
"I have to thank Misha tomorrow." She promised herself. "I needed that break." Sally looked over at the chess board, still left out from her match earlier that day. Modesty aside, she knew it wasn't often that someone bested her in a game of chess. That alone spoke highly of Misha's skills.  
  
Sally sat back in her chair as she considered Knothole's newest resident. He was obviously intelligent, gifted in several areas, and clearly wanted to help in whatever way he could. His admission that he knew his own limitations meant that he had a better hold over his own ego than several other boys Sally could name.  
  
She sighed. On the other hand, he wasn't what she would call stable. The doctors refused to give Sally his test results, something about doctor- patient confidentiality. But she could infer based on what she'd seen of him so far, that Misha had a slight-personality quirk. Or rather, that he had several personalities with quirks.  
  
Misha would simply go from one state of mind, one personality, to another so fast that one would think that he did have multiple personalities. It wasn't that he just had mood swings. His entire character seemed to be in a state of flux. Like today, he seemed boyishly cheerful, energetic and even charming. When they first met...Sally shook her head. Predicting the weather would be easier than gauging Misha's mood or attitude at any given moment. At least storms having weather fronts one can track and predict. With Misha, there were no such warnings.  
  
Even more troubling than that was his open disdain and even hatred for the monarchy. Sally shuddered, she could still hear his maddened rant against the House of Acorn. It scared her, and she wasn't easily scared. Sally was more than a little bit disturbed at his equating her father and Robotnik. Did that mean that he would switch sides if her father was somehow released from the void?  
  
She shook her head. No, not even her most cynical, jaded tactical sense could seriously entertain that notion for more than a second. Misha may not be loyal to the crown, but that didn't diminish his loyalty to Knothole or to the fight for freedom in the least.  
  
As for his.alleged personality shifts, they were a flaw, but no more serious than Sonic's brashness, Antoine's ego, or anything else of that nature. A problem, but one that could be dealt with.hopefully. Sally wasn't a counselor but she felt that exposure to other people would probably help curb Misha's more extreme tendencies.  
  
That issue resolved, Sally couldn't help but think that she'd forgotten something. She mentally slapped herself. "I have to read to Tails!" Hurrying out the door, Sally ran over to Tails' hut but stopped short when she heard voices coming from inside.  
  
It sounded like Misha, but it was almost as if he was trying to superimpose an English accent over his Russian one. Sally stood at the door as Misha read to Tails. She listened in to the story Misha was reading. It wasn't one she was familiar with.  
  
" 'Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,' said Hagrid. 'Harry--yer a wizard.' " Misha read in his pseudo-English accent. Tails was sitting up in bed, clearly excited by the story. Sally just stood at the door, neither of them noticing her. After another five or so minutes, Misha closed the book and set it aside.  
  
"Good night Tails."  
  
"Night, Misha." Tails mumbled as he snuggled into his pillow. Misha smiled and ruffled his head fur before quietly leaving.  
  
"Misha?" Sally whispered after he went outside. He jumped in surprise and whipped around.  
  
"Bozehmoi, Sally! You nearly scared me out of my fur!" Sally grinned.  
  
"Sorry. That was awfully sweet, what you did for Tails." She couldn't prove it in the dark, but she could've sworn she saw Misha blush.  
  
"Well I thought that you might keep yourself busy all night so I thought I'd put Tails to bed. I used to read for my little sister, Katya."  
  
"Thanks. Say, what book was that? I don't think I've ever heard that one before."  
  
"Oh that? It's a human book actually. Part of a series of fantasy novels I stumbled across. I thought Tails might like them, all things considered, I think I was right."  
  
"I think so too." Sally agreed. "I want to thank you again for reading to Tails. And for letting me know when I overdo it."  
  
"Anytime." Sally just yawned.  
  
"I'm going to turn in too. I suggest you do the same. We'll talk more tomorrow. Okay?"  
  
"I may do just that. See you tomorrow. Good night."  
  
"Good night."  
  
* * * 


End file.
